


step into the sun

by MaddieandChimney



Series: Riley AU [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, alternate universe in which maddie is a 28 year old hot mess momma to a five year old, and Buck is a 22 year old college graduate who isn't a member of the 118 (yet), based off a meet cute prompt, chapter TEN only is NSFW, implied domestic violence (non graphic descriptions), mentions of doug kendall as is canon, mentions of rebar, so cross posting from tumblr to here as it's a lot of words, that kinda got out of control
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29888484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: Chimney knows that he's a goner when he meets a young, single mother and her young daughter on the bus one day. It's not until they meet again, a year later, following the most traumatic year of his life, that he realises just how beautiful life can be.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Riley AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197560
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Maddie gets on the bus with her kid (girl or boy you decide), new to town, no car yet, and there aren’t any seats left. Chim, who is taking the bus while his car is in the shop, offers her and the kiddo his seat. He overhears them talking about going to the zoo or somewhere touristy and Chim is like don’t wanna interrupt but xyz place is awesome.

It’s not ideal but she had promised her daughter a day out and that was exactly what she was going to give her. They had been in LA barely a month, still settling into their new routine, just the two of them. She could see herself settling there, she could see a life for the two of them after years of moving from place to place, trying to find a home. 

It was just unfortunate that her trusty jeep that she’d owned for over ten years, that had taken both her and her daughter across the country over the last two years, happened to go to car heaven the day after they had arrived in LA. It was just a bus, but with a four year old, it was a lot more hassle. Either way, the traffic had exceeded her expectations in every way possible, which was exactly what she had told her brother when he’d suggested joining her in LA once he was back from Europe. But for now, as always, it was just her and Riley, the two of them against the world or… rather, right now, against a busy public bus. 

It’s with a frustrated sigh that she lifts the little girl up onto her hip, trying not to take it personally when everyone avoids her gaze as she walks a little further up the bus to try and find some place to stand, she supposes because no one is about to give up their seat for the child she’s holding. “Hey, h-here… you can uh,” She bites down on her lip when a man with kind eyes and a lopsided smile stands up just as she moves to walk past, “you can have my seat.” 

The slightly stubborn part of her wants to talk about how she doesn’t need a man to give up his seat for her but Riley isn’t exactly light anymore and it’s a relief to place her down on the seat next to a disapproving woman who just rolls her eyes and looks out of the window as Riley plonks herself down and Maddie shifts herself into the gap between seats so she’s standing in front of her. She half expects her daughter to burst into tears over the fact she hasn’t gotten a window seat, turning her attention to the stranger instead as she smiles, “Thank you.” 

His smile is bright, shaking his head, as he moves to lift his hand up to the railing to keep himself steady as the bus sort of moves, stopping every five seconds with a jolt, or so it seems. “Mommy, mommy, going to the zoo? Do they have lions?” It’s easy for her attention to the little girl who has already decided to stand on the seat in lieu of sitting, Maddie grabbing both of her hands to make sure she doesn’t fall off, knowing it’s not worth the argument right then. It’s followed with her best impression of a lion, loud and uncaring of the people around them. “Mommy, is there monkey’s?” The resounding impression is followed by an over-eager jumping up and down with a giggle. 

If Maddie was looking, she’d see the smile on the man’s face as he listens (with little to no choice because Riley hasn’t quite learned about volume control just yet). Instead, her eyes remain on the excitement on her daughter’s face, “I’m sure there are monkey’s there, cupcake.” She leans down enough to press her forehead to her daughter’s, nudging their noses together, “But you’re gonna have to take a deep breath for mommy, we might be on the bus a while.” 

“Hey, I’m uh, sorry to interrupt,” She tears her eyes away from the little girl to look over at the owner of the voice. His cheeks are flushed, chewing down a little more on the gum in his mouth before he scratches the back of his neck, “uh, you’re… actually on the wrong bus for Griffith Park.” He grimaces a little and she lets out a groan because she’s entirely certain she had checked the relevant bus number more than once. She can already feel big, brown eyes on her without even looking at the little girl, biting down on her lip as she scrambles for something to do. She’d promised Riley a day out before she started her new job, and she’d already messed up. 

“Wrong bus, mommy?” God, she misses having a car, she misses the ability to turn around when she had taken a wrong direction because now she’s stuck on a bus going god knows where in a place she still knows nothing about. Maybe her brother had been right, maybe LA was too big a change for her to get used to. She can already hear the impending tantrum in her daughter’s voice, unsure if she has the mental capacity to handle the tears. 

“But you are on the right bus for the aquarium!” There’s an emphasis on the words coming from the man and it takes her a moment to realise it’s not aimed at her but serving as a great distraction for the four year old. “There’s birds, and lots and lots of fish, more fish than I can ever count and penguins, too! And… guess what?” She doesn’t know his name but she’s more than thankful for him right then because he’s stopped the tears before they can even start, the smile returning to her daughter’s face as she watches him carefully. 

“What?” She gasps, giggling as he grins, and Maddie wonders if maybe she needs to teach her daughter and maybe herself some lessons about stranger danger. But he seems good and kind and the LAFD embroidered jacket seems to alleviate any uneasiness she has within her because if he’s a first responder, and maybe even a father, it explains why he’s so good with kids. 

“There’s lots of really friendly sharks and if you ask your mommy really, really nicely, you might even get to feed some really pretty, colourful birds.” Suddenly, in the little girls eyes, the zoo is completely forgotten and the disappointment she had felt a few moments ago is gone, replaced with a sudden excitement for something different. Really, as long as there were animals involved and probably ice cream at the end of it, Maddie knows that Riley would be one hundred percent in. 

Riley giggles, “That sounds fun, right, mommy?” 

They both look towards her as she smiles, nodding her head, “Thank you. You uh, don’t happen to be jumping off on or after that stop, do you? I kind of… we’ve only been here a few weeks, I have literally no idea where I’m going.” She tries to ignore the way her heart skips a beat at the lopsided grin he gives her, before he nods his head. 

“I’ll give the heads up, I’m Howard Han, by the way. Howie.” 

Maddie blushes, almost rolling her eyes at herself, then actually rolling her eyes at her daughter when she forces a hand from Maddie’s to hold out her own for the man who was still, very much a stranger. Albeit a handsome, seemingly kind, knowledgeable stranger. “Riley Buckley.” She proclaims proudly, “This is mommy, mommy say hi, you’re being rude.” 

It’s with a laugh that she holds out her own hand, her cheeks flushing a dark shade of red the moment he takes her hand in his own, gently shaking it. “Maddie, it’s nice to meet you, Howie.” 

“Maybe Howie can come see the sharks, too.” 

Is her four year old trying to set her up on a date? She’s obviously been talking way too much to her uncle, watching as Howie’s eyes flick down towards her left hand before he lets out an awkward laugh. “As fun as that sounds, I just finished a really, really long night at work and I should probably go home to sleep.” His eyes glance between the two, “I’m a Firefighter-Paramedic.” He explains, and perhaps she’s a little biased towards first responders but she feels herself relaxing a little at the confirmation. “But uh, you know, if you ever… need to know anything about LA, I’ve lived here for a really long time, I can… I can give you my number?” 

Maddie gulps, looking down at her daughter - taking a number didn’t actually mean anything, right? She didn’t have to use it and she had promised her brother she’d be more open to new opportunities, to meeting new people. “I think I’d like that.” She finally settles on, a shy smile on her face before she pulls out her phone and hands it to him, watching the bright smile on his face as he quickly types his name and number and then hands it back to her. 

Maybe the bus wasn’t too bad at all. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Maybe it’s the next year. Riley is 5. Maddie never calls Chim, but maybe the firehouse is having like a local event where they teach fire safety to the kids. Either in school, or a fair or something, and Maddie and Riley are there and spot Chim who notices them back.

Maddie wonders if it’s at all possible to die of embarrassment. As a nurse, she knows the answer is no but the way her heart is thumping a little too much right then, tells her otherwise. Maybe her embarrassment will cause a heart attack and maybe that’s what will be the end of her. Not logical, not even medically accurate but it’s the situation she currently finds herself in as she just stares at the man across from her. Maybe he doesn’t recognise her. Maybe he doesn’t remember her because it was about ten months ago and it was literally just a half an hour interaction on a bus. 

An interaction that had ended in him giving her his number. 

A number she had never used. 

“Maddie, right?” Maybe the universe could do her a favour right then and just swallow her whole. Her face feels as though it could quite literally be on fire and she supposes it’s a good thing that she’s in a firehouse. LA was a big place, with a lot of firehouse’s, so of course, of course, she just had to go to the one where he worked. He doesn’t look angry or upset, which she supposes is a bonus but then she’s used to men masking their true feelings. 

It’s not even as though she regrets not using his number because a lot had happened since that brief moment on the bus - her husband, Riley’s father, had found them and even if he hadn’t, why would anyone want to deal with the baggage she had on her shoulders, anyway? It’s still a little awkward to be faced with him nearly a year later because he had been kind, and sweet, and she had absolutely noticed how handsome he was back then and somehow, even more so now in his uniform. 

Riley giggles out a “Shark man,” as Maddie definitely wonders if it would be more or less embarrassing to grab the five year old and run out of there as fast as she possibly can. At least he laughs, smiling down at the little girl before he looks up at her and shakes his head. 

“You don’t have to worry, I’m not gonna give you my number again, I promise. Just coming over to tell you that they’re doing the fire truck tour in the minute.” Is it at all possible for her face to get any redder than it already was? She takes a breath, trying to laugh which comes out as more of a squeak as she practically yanks her daughter to stand in front of her. As though somehow that she can hide behind a five year old. Great thinking, Maddie, she silently scolds herself. 

“I uh, I’m sorry about that… we’d only just moved to LA and I uh, I was still married. N-not happily, obviously and uh, it was complicated. I know this sounds stupid and cheesy but it really wasn’t a you thing, it was a me thing and I know that’s no excuse because maybe I shouldn’t have taken your number in the first place but–”

He holds his hand up, “No, no, you don’t have to apologise, it was just a number, you didn’t sign a contract to use it.” His voice is soft, and his smile bright and at least there doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings. Just embarrassed ones on her side, she supposes. 

Slowly, she nods her head, “R-right, yeah…” Frowning because she really does wish she had been in the right place at the time to actually at least send him a text, and maybe even have a friend in LA, maybe something more. She hadn’t been but that was ten months ago and a lot had changed since then. Her brother was back in the country and living in an apartment just twenty minutes from her, she’d had a lot of therapy since then, and her husband was dead in traumatic circumstances but at least she wasn’t waiting for him to find her anymore. “I uh…” 

“Do you–”

They both talk at the same time, and Maddie glances down at the little girl, resting her hand on top of her head as she smiles, “She’s uh, much more interested in the ambulance than she is the firetruck, to be honest.” 

“I was born in an ambulance!” She exclaims, with more pride than she probably should given how traumatic that particular experience had been for Maddie but he laughs anyway and gestures for them to follow him a little further into the station. “My Uncle says mommy should go on a date.” 

Apparently her daughter and her brother were discussing her dating life - or lack of - behind her back and a part of her wonders if she should scold her, whilst another part of her is kind of checking the man out as he walks just in front of her with the little girl and maybe she wants to see where Riley is going with it. Howie, to his credit, says nothing, only smiles down at her, opening up the back of the ambulance once they get there before he lifts her up to look inside. 

As always, her intelligent, talkative, funny five year old daughter, is undeterred by the lack of response, grinning in a way that shows off all her missing teeth, “Mommy was sad last time but she’s not sad anymore, are you, mommy?” She doesn’t wait for an answer from Maddie, she never does, before she continues, “You seem a little sadder though. What happened to your head?” And of course, she can rely on her to bring up the elephant in the room that was the pink scar she’d noticed on his forehead that most definitely had not been there ten months before. Of course. 

“Hey, Riley, I think that’s enough, you shouldn’t ask questions like that.” 

“Why not?” 

Right. Why not? Being a mother was hard, she was expected to have answers to questions she didn’t even know the answers to because what she wants to say is just because it’s the right thing to do and there is no definitive reason but she knows that, as a child, she needs a reason. “It’s just rude.” Is what she settles on and it’s pathetic but whatever, there’s a stubborn look on her face before she turns back to the man standing in front of her. 

“I thought it was good to ask questions.” 

Yeah, she had said that, too. Wow. Wonderful, it turned out Riley did listen to her, sometimes. When she wanted to. Selecting hearing, just as her uncle had when he was younger and Maddie was trying to teach him about the world. “Maybe Howie isn’t comfortable answering.” 

“No, no, it’s fine.” He turns his head to smile at her, although she can see a hint of awkwardness in his face before he shrugs it off, “I actually got into a car accident about… eight months ago. And a piece of metal went through my head and now I have this cool scar to show off.” 

“Like Harry Potter?” 

“Yeah, exactly.” 

Riley thinks about the information for a moment, stepping a little further into the ambulance as Maddie moves to lean against the door, just watching Howie instead, at the scar on his forehead, wondering how he survived and what the non child friendly version of the story was. “Mommy got into an accident too, she was in hospital for a long time but she has a cool scar, too on her tummy.” Was it too late to grab the talkative child and run? Maybe she should have started doing the naughty step thing early on. Maybe. “Show him, mommy.” 

“Uh, no.” Her nose scrunches up and she doesn’t mean to outwardly roll her eyes at her daughter but there she is, as the handsome man stares at her with concern in his eyes and her daughter tries her best to look innocent. “How about we don’t go sharing our life stories with someone you don’t know? Or anyone?” It’s with a sigh that she turns her attention entirely to Howie, “I’m sorry. She’s going through a say anything and everything that pops into her head phase.” 

He’s kind. She can tell that by the way he’s looking at her, and the frown on his face as he clearly thinks over what the five year old had just told him. She doesn’t know why she says it, whilst Riley peeks over at the front of the ambulance, but it comes out anyway, “My husband… he wasn’t a good man. That’s why I didn’t use your number and that’s why we moved to LA and I don’t know why I’m telling you that because I-I don’t… I know I don’t owe you anything. But uh, I would have. I would have used it if… if the timing had been right, you know? I really would have.” 

“Is the timing right… now?” 

She’d be embarrassed by the blush on her cheeks and the weird laughter that falls from her lips, but the smile on his face says everything when he takes a step towards her and holds out his hand for her phone once more. “Is your number still the same?” He nods, “I-I still have it.” But she takes out her phone anyway, gulping down the lump in her throat as she scrolls through her contacts and wonders if she’s really doing this. 

She types out a smiley face before she can stop herself and presses send before she can even think about it before she looks back up at him. His smile is wide, lighting up his entire face and she finds herself grinning back at him. The timing was perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Maddie is going on her first date with Howie, and Riley and Buck “help” her get ready.

It’s been a week of back and forth texting, getting to know each other before Maddie finds herself getting ready for their first date. She’s nervous, more nervous than she could ever imagine being because she’d never really dated before. She’d met Riley’s dad during a college tour when she was seventeen and they sort of fell into a relationship when she got to college. They had Riley during her first year at nursing school and then left him the day after she’d graduated.

She’d given Howie the watered down version of the truth - she’d fallen in love quickly and probably too soon to a man who appeared to be one thing but was actually another. She’d gotten pregnant at a time in her life when she had wanted to focus on her education and knew she had to leave him the moment she could. She and Riley had spent almost two years trying to find their place in the world before she’d landed in LA and never looked back since. 

It’s the truth but not the whole truth because she’s not about to pour her entire heart out to a man she barely knows in the hopes she doesn’t send him running for the hills. She’d spent the last few months healing and trying to get used to not looking over her shoulder and not feeling scared or wary of what was to come. She was ready, more than ready to start taking the next step in her new life. 

It’s just terrifying. 

Maddie takes a breath as she bites down on her lip, slowly moving her hands over the short, black dress that her best friend had insisted she wear, trying to remember what he had told her. What was the worst that could happen? She has dinner with someone she’ll never see again? It would be okay and it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t work out. But still, those thoughts do nothing to alleviate her racing heart or her sweaty palms, gulping down the lump in her throat before she finally walks out of her bedroom. 

“Wow, you trying to give the poor guy a heart attack?” Maddie rolls her eyes at her brother, trying to push down the fear that maybe she’s gone a little over the top. It was just dinner, right? And she didn’t even know where dinner was beyond the fact he was picking her up from her house and there was only ten minutes left until he’d be here, so there wasn’t any time to get changed. “Hey, I was joking. You look great.” 

It’s not often Evan is serious, he’s twenty-two and freshly graduated from college, floating around from one job to the next as he tries to find who he wants to be in life. By his age she’d been married, she’s almost jealous of his freedom. His blue eyes meet her dark eyes as she tries to focus on taking a breath. “Right, are you sure? Josh picked it out and now I’m not too sure… is it too much?” Eyes glance down at her heels, hand moving to the lace material around her neck. Short, but not low-cut, that was what Josh had said, to leave him wanting more. Now she’s not too sure.

“Don’t be silly mommy, you look pretty.” Riley is the next to speak, eyes that are so much like looking into her own, looking up at her with a gapped tooth grin. Maddie smiles down at her, running her fingers through one of her pigtails, scrunching her nose up. 

“You’re very sweet.” 

“Are you going to give him a kiss?” It’s the puckered lips and the exaggerated kissing noise that follows that causes Maddie to groan and take a step away from her five year old daughter with a shake of her head. She should have known the sweetness and light wouldn’t last long, giving her brother a stern look when he lets out a snort of laughter whilst Riley giggles at herself. “Are you going to give him an adult hug?” 

That time, she shoots her brother a glare, “You two are not funny.”

“I don’t know, I think we are hilarious, don’t you Ry?” They wear the same mischievous look, as she moves to stand next to him, both of them looking her up and down as though they’d rehearsed the entire process and honestly, she wouldn’t be surprised if they had. Two peas in a pod, her brother and her daughter. Two annoying peas in a pod. “Do you have some conversation points?” 

“What do you know about dating?” She counteracts, already feeling her cheeks flush with defensiveness as she moves to grab her bag from the counter. Howie seems like the kind of man who would be on time, so surely he will save her from the pain of the two Buckley’s soon. 

Evan lets out a loud laugh, and Riley, although she has no idea what he’s laughing about, joins in, always copying him. “More than you.” He scoffs, “And you’ve got to have something to talk about other than Riley and being a nurse and do not, god, do not tell him about the sick kids. You’ll cry, he’ll feel bad or worse… he’ll cry and then…” 

The look on her face at least makes him stop, folding her arms as she raises a brow, “Are you sure you couldn’t just stay in England for a little bit longer? You were about a hundred times less annoying when you were thousands of miles away.”

“Here, mommy, we made a list…” And sure as hell, there is a piece of paper slammed down onto the counter in front of her and she’s not going to give him the satisfaction of even looking at their stupid writing or the stupid pictures clearly drawn by the twenty two year old and not the five year old.

Maddie lets out a frustrated huff, throwing her phone into her bag, before she runs her fingers through the long curls of her hair, “I don’t need a list,” She hopes she doesn’t need a list because sure, talking over text was great and it was easy when they could both get some time between shifts or during quieter times at the station and at the hospital. She bites down on her lip, “it’s just a date, you’re both acting like I’ve never the fuc–damn house before.” 

“Uh, name the last time you went out for fun.” 

“Yeah, mommy, when did you last go out for fun?” 

It’s a fair enough question, but not one she appreciates right then before she looks between the two of them. Both standing there, with their hands on their hips and their heads tilted as they wait for her to come up with an answer. Which she does, kind of, “Shut up.” 

Evan laughs, “I don’t think you can tell your five year old daughter to shut up.” She’s pretty sure there’s a lot of things she shouldn’t have said to her daughter but thankfully, she’s saved by the sound of the door knocking and she’s more than relieved to get the hell away from the two people she loves the most in the world but kind of needs a break from right then. “Can I expect you home tonight?” 

“Yes, mother.” 

It’s with her best forced smile that she opens the door, although the forced part drops and turns into a shy smile when her eyes settle on the man in a suit, holding a bunch of flowers in both hands as he looks as nervous as she feels.

She hears the shout of “Shark man,” behind her, enough to make her push him back so she can step out of the door and close it behind her, letting out a nervous laugh as she looks at him. 

“Hi,” She breathes out, her cheeks red when she takes the flowers he extends out to her, his head tilted to the side and a lopsided grin on his face. And whilst it’s been nice to talk to him, it’s even better to actually see him in person once more. But this time, on an actual date and not an accidental meeting on a bus or at a firehouse, “you look… really handsome.” 

She’s twenty-eight, she most definitely should not be feeling as though she is sixteen right now, a giggle falling from her lips as he scratches the back of his neck and then holds out a hand for her. “You look beautiful, but then… you always do. Are you ready?” 

One last glance at the now closed door, taking bets on the fact that Buck is probably watching them from the peephole, before she nods her head, “As I’ll ever be.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: It’s picture day at school and Maddie and Riley are running late as usual. Maddie tells her daughter to go pick out an outfit and get dressed and the five year old comes out of her room with (poorly done) makeup on, lots of hairspray in her hair, and a somewhat not appropriate outfit, looking waaaaay too “mature”. Maddie is horrified, Buck is in stitches but then goes into protective uncle mode and gets her to listen (since he and Riley are a team).

Maddie opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out, her head moving between her five year old daughter and her (five year old) brother. She’s gone into shock, that’s what she decides right then. Her body has shut down, her brain has stopped working and her brother won’t stop laughing. Riley looks as innocent as she could possibly muster, her eyes big as she stares up at her mom, a smile on her lipstick covered lips as she holds her hands behind her back and sways from side to side. 

Maybe she’s having a heart attack. She’s twenty eight but it’s perfectly feasible right then. “Don’t I look pretty, mommy?” Riley repeats, her smile widening as though somehow she just knows that pretty is not the word Maddie would go for right then. She silently reminds herself to actually give away her daughter’s clothes that no longer fit her so she never has to be met with the sight of her in a top that had stopped fighting her about a year ago and a skirt that most definitely should not be on her five year old daughter’s body. 

Maybe she’s going to be sick. Maybe that’s the feeling she’s suffering through right then as her stomach turns and a lump of bile rises in her throat. She scrambles her brain for where she had gone wrong in parenting - she can’t imagine ever having had the courage to walk out of her bedroom looking like that to her mother. 

They were late already, they were always late when she was in charge of the school run and she has no idea how she functions as a professional nurse but work is one thing and somehow, getting both herself and Riley ready in the morning for the school run was out of the realms of possibilities. She takes a long breath, her hand moving to Riley’s hair, which is rock hard from the amount of hairspray she can see, feel and smell from where she stands. “Oh god, Riley, what the fuck have you done?” 

“You’re not meant to say a rude word, mommy.” 

Definitely not, and usually she’d be mortified but right then, all she can think about is how they’re going to get the hairspray out of her hair and the makeup off her face and into something age appropriate for picture day when she was already meant to be out of the house and on the way to school ten minutes ago. “And you’re not meant to go into my makeup box without my permission but here we are.” 

She must look as mortified as she feels right then because somehow, her brother manages to stop laughing and practically runs over to them to whisk Riley up in his arms with a nervous smile on his face. “This is nothing that can’t be fixed, right, girls?” She can see the stubborn tears burning in her daughter’s eyes that are so much like her own but all she can do is shake her head in response. 

“She looks like–” 

“I know what she looks like, Maddie but it’s fine. We can make something up about being late for school, okay? Riley needs to get in the shower, you need to go take five minutes and it’ll be okay, I promise.” 

Maddie wants to believe him and she’s more than aware that it’s not the end of the world, nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of soap and water and a change of clothes but the horror remains as she just stares at the little girl in his arms. “Why do I have to get changed?” She finally asks, hand patting against her rock hard hair as she purses her lips and Maddie wonders if it’s at all possible to get a do-over. Clearly, she’d messed up somewhere. She was a terrible mother. 

“Because I said so.” 

“That’s not an answer.” 

The words come quickly, the two of them at an impasse as they stare at each other, equally angry looks on their faces. Riley definitely has the Buckley temper and the stubborn streak, but that thought does nothing to alleviate what Maddie is feeling right then as she digs her nails into her arm in the hopes it’ll make her feel grounded. It doesn’t work. “It’s the answer you’re getting because what I want to say is about as appropriate as the way you look right now.” 

Buck clearly sees the reddening of both of their cheeks, their eyes narrowing into a glare at each other before he lets out a nervous laugh and starts to back up in the direction of the bathroom, “Okay! This is fine, we’ll laugh about this in a few days… maybe weeks. It’s fine. I got this, Maddie go… I don’t know, go take a breather, text your boyfriend, he always puts a smile on your face. I’ll… wash this off…” He gestures haphazardly to the lipstick that’s all over her lips and chin, even on her cheeks, at the eyeshadow that goes beyond her eyebrows and the blusher that she seems to have thrown all over her face. 

She knows he’s right, taking a step away as she takes a deep breath, “Fine. But we don’t have long, she can’t be late for school again, it’ll be the fifth time this week.” 

“Uh… there’s only five–” 

“Yeah, like I said… fifth time.” Her nose scrunches up, wondering if maybe she should bite the bullet one day and just let her daughter take the school bus like most other people. But even though she knows Doug is dead, there’s still that lingering protective part of her that worries about the lack of control she has over Riley getting on and off the bus and staying on the bus. It had been a rough week because she was on nights and the school said they understood, whilst they looked at her with sympathy - a working single mom, life must be so hard. And yeah, it was but next would be better, she was back on days and… maybe she could get her brother to help out a little more when he wasn’t back and forth with interviews or hungover from another party he had found. 

They’re out in record time, joining her in the kitchen as she just stares at the beautiful, makeup free face of her little girl, wearing something that fits with soaking wet hair. “I’ll drive, you braid her hair, deal?” Buck says, as though he’s read her mind and she takes another calming breath before she smiles at him, not sure what she would do without him in her life, more than thankful he’d decided to join her after college. 

“I’m sorry, mommy. I thought it was pretty.” 

It’s with a sigh that she kneels down to look at the pouting child, nudging her nose against hers, “You’re pretty no matter what but you’re only five, sweet girl, and picture day is expensive. Mommy would you looking like yourself to proudly hang on the wall, okay?” It’s enough to make her smile, tiny arms wrapping around her neck before she stands up with her arms wrapped around her waist, glad that the drama was over as she mouths a ‘thank you’ to her smirking brother. 

“You can pay me back with lunch.” He announces, with a grin and a wink before she rolls her eyes and presses a kiss to her daughter’s cheek. Lunch in exchange for a calmer mini Buckley and for the sake of her own sanity. 

“Deal.” She finally says, grinning at him, “But we are super late and mommy is gonna get in trouble with the principal again, so let’s go!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Riley overhears her mom and Buck talking about Maddie “getting laid”. Later, when Chim comes over, maybe she all of the sudden inquires about it in front of him.. or something embarrassing like... “what’s getting laid?” or “mommy says you’re getting laid tonight... is that a good thing?”

Meeting Maddie, again, had been a breath of fresh air that he had never known he needed. It had only been six weeks, a handful of dates here and there, the two of them trying to keep it as casual as possible, especially because they were both shift workers. But her texts are enough to brighten his day and they always make at least one phone date a day, even if it’s only for ten minutes. He’d fallen hard and fast for the beautiful nurse who he knows he has so much more to learn about but he’s ready and he’s willing to go at her pace. 

She’s more reserved within her own life, although he assumes it’s because she has Riley and as much as he knows that she trusts him, it’s still important to keep him at arms length just in case. Children being involved complicated the situation but no one knew that better than his best friend because she had been raising Denny alone before she’d met Karen and he’s glad that he has her to lean on in those moments of self-doubt. The moments where he gets a little bit ahead of himself and starts to worry about the prospect of being a role model or a step-dad to a five year old. He knows nothing of her dad, barely anything about their past beyond the fact they lived in Hershey. 

It’s why he’s probably a little more nervous than he should be as he steps into her apartment, nervously shaking the hand of the man he knows to be her little brother as he explains to him that Maddie isn’t quite ready yet. That’s another thing he’s learned about her, time-keeping is not her strongest point unless it’s to do with work. He doesn’t mind, he still laughs every single time her cheeks flush and she rushes out a thousand apologies, practically crashing into him with every moment she’s rushing. He’d wait all night just to see that beautiful smile, as cheesy as that sounds. 

Maddie is young but mature, she’s got secrets but she wears her heart on her sleeve, she loves karaoke but needs a few drinks to gather the courage to get up on stage and she loves her family, more than anything, but she’s apprehensive in discussing them. These are just some of the things he knows about her, each one enough to make him want to know more, excited for whatever the future holds for them. 

Still, even though he’d been confident around her daughter before, he gulps down the lump in his throat when he finds her looking at him with her arms folded and her head tilted as though she’s deep in thought. This was different, he had to make a good impression, nervously wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans before he forces his best smile, “Did you have a good day at school?” 

Her nose scrunches up, and he supposes that’s enough of an answer as she takes a step forward. She is so much like her mother; the long hair, big, brown eyes and the cutest nose. There’s barely anything to either of the Buckley ladies but he still feels nervous beneath her glance, as though she’s analysing him, before she shrugs her shoulders, “What does getting laid mean?” There’s a tone to her voice, as though she knows she shouldn’t be repeating those words, a daring smirk on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes that seems to alight when he almost chokes on the gum he’d been chewing on. 

The room is suddenly hotter and Hen had never prepared him for this with every discussion they’d ever had on how he would go about meeting Riley as Maddie’s boyfriend for the first time. Denny had only been one when she’d met Karen, not old enough to form an opinion, or to voice his thoughts and Riley, despite being five, he can tell is wise beyond her years. Five going on fifteen as Maddie had so often warned him with an affectionate roll of her eyes and a laugh. Now, it was just him and the two youngest Buckley’s in the room and he’s glad, at least, to see Evan looking just as horrified as he does, although neither men know what to say or how to answer. 

“I heard mommy talking to Uncle Evan and they said you’re getting laid tonight, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” It’s enough, at least, to get Evan to lift her up in his arms with a nervous laugh that reminds him of Maddie’s for just a second as he shakes his head. 

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” 

Of course, that’s the moment that Maddie walks into the room, distracting him from those words for just a moment, literally taking his breath away when he looks at her. They’re going for a few drinks at her favourite karaoke bar and he still can’t quite believe that he gets to sing alongside her. Long hair, slightly curled, falls over her shoulders, a long-sleeved, floral dress covered by a denim jacket and the most beautiful smile he has ever seen which so quickly drops when she takes in the sight in front of her. At an embarrassed looking Evan holding a curious looking Riley as Chimney stands across from them going between looking horrified and also in complete awe of her. Or so he imagines. 

“Oh god, what did she say?” 

He’d been present for the little girl’s ability to just say whatever came into her head, a trait he admired and was also terrified of. So, it’s not a surprise but he is slightly intrigued to know how something like that would even come up in the first place. With all the innocence of a child, Riley looks over at her mother, a grin on her face, “I was just asking if being laid was good or bad.” 

Whatever shade of red he looks is probably pathetic in comparison to Maddie’s face right then, her eyes wide before she shakes her head, “You really need to stop listening in on other people’s conversations, Riley Elizabeth Buckley.” At least the use of her full name is enough to make the smile drop on the little girls face, easily replaced by a pout, “And then stop repeating them to other people. It’s rude, and I didn’t bring you up to be rude. Apologise to Howie.” 

“For what?”

“For being rude.” Chimney can tell by the roll of Evan’s eyes that this back and forth is a regular thing, letting Riley slide down his body before she walks over to him, barely seconds after her feet have touched the ground. 

He watches as she gestures with her hand for him to move down, crouching down enough so she can look him in the eyes, the most serious expression he’s ever seen on a child’s face as she stares at him. “I think that means it’s a bad thing,” She whispers, “so I’m sorry.” And then she runs off before either her uncle or her mother can say anything further, leaving Maddie looking exasperated and the other Buckley looking as though he’s trying to stop himself from laughing. 

It’s not what he should be thinking about, maybe, but it’s nice to know that Maddie seemingly had plans beyond karaoke and a few drinks tonight, watching as her brother practically pushes her towards him from where she’s been frozen in place since her daughter had half skipped, half ran past her. “I-I’m so sorry about her, she… it’s a really long phase. I think it might be her personality which is probably my fault but if you want to cancel because I’m a complete idiot, I-I get it.” He hates how nervous she can get sometimes, watching as her eyes dart across his face, the panic clear in her voice before he smiles and shrugs his shoulders. 

“Why would I cancel? Although I won’t mind hearing how the conversation actually went.” It’s what he’s always been good at, diffusing tension, making people feel at ease, which is why he loved his job so much and one of the reasons he was such a good paramedic. It’s lost on him that her brother is still in the room, so completely fixated on making her smile, feeling his heart flutter when it works as he reaches out a hand for her, relief washing over him when she takes it. 

Her cheeks lessen to more of a pink colour than the dark shade of red they had been, the laugh he could hear a thousand times and never grow tired of falling from her lips before they grin at each other, “I should probably do a child in the vicinity sweep before I talk about anything in the future.” She mumbles, her other hand moving to curl around the edge of his top, as she looks up at him, a slight pout on her lips. 

“No harm done,” Chimney finds himself whispering, gulping down the sudden nervous lump in his throat when the words that had been spoken truly settle in and now it’s all he can think about, taking a breath, “we should get going.” It’s only when she nods her head that he looks up, reminding himself there’s someone else in the room, another person he had wanted to impress because he meant everything to Maddie, “I’ll see you around.” 

“We’ll do a family thing sometime, don’t worry, Maddie and I will have words with the little demon beforehand.” He winks, and Maddie groans as she dives forward to press her forehead against his chest, causing both men to laugh at the same time whilst his arms move to wrap around her. Honestly, Chimney thinks, he can’t wait. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Maddie, Buck, Riley and Chimney sit down for family meal. Oh boy... 😬 it’s just one huge mess.

To say Maddie had been dreading this great ‘family meal’ would be an understatement. Honestly, she had almost wanted to kick her brother for even suggesting it in the first place but she knew that her two worlds would have to collide at some point. It’s been two months since she had started dating Chimney. Two months of getting to know him, of trusting him, although they hadn’t quite gotten to the ‘getting laid’ part of their relationship that she and her brother had been casually joking about a few weeks before. 

It was serious though, she hopes, it’s been a long time since she had opened her heart to another person and she hopes that he feels the same way about her as she does him. He’d met Riley several times before but this was different, this was a sit down meal with her daughter and her brother, neither of which had ever learned the meaning of a filter. She takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Cooking had been a definitive no because she wanted tonight to go as well as possible and her or her brother attempting to cook an entire meal would have gone awfully. 

Opting for a wide range of Thai food from her favourite place seemed like the safest option. Plus, it had the bonus that it was one of Riley’s favourites, so maybe that would keep her on side for a little while. Maddie bites down on her lip, looking at the dining room table, at the wide array of food and drink, knowing she’d probably be clinging to the wine bottle for the rest of the night. 

“You look like you’re going to throw up.” 

She glances over at her brother, “I think I might.” Maybe it’s normal to be this nervous - Chimney was her boyfriend, and Riley and Evan were the only family she had in the world and she wanted them to get on. She wanted her daughter to feel comfortable that she was taking this step, she wanted Chimney to start to feel comfortable in her apartment because she knows thus far, she’d never really invited him in. The two worlds were colliding, the three people who mean something to her would all be sitting in the same room and if one thing happens or one thing goes wrong, it could all be over. 

She loves her daughter and her brother, she really does, more than anything and they would always come first but they don’t have any tact. Really, her five year old can come across a little abrasive sometimes, whilst Evan often gives off the impression that he’s more than a little protective of both the Buckley girls. And the two of them together were a force to be reckoned with. 

Evan wraps an arm around her shoulders, a smile on his face, “What’s the worst that can happen, right? I mean… if Riley doesn’t like him for whatever reason, she’ll come around and if he doesn’t like us… then… well, that’s his loss and you’ll find the person you’re meant to be with. At least now you know you’re ready.” Her heart drops at the thought, which is probably crazy considering it’s only been two months and she shouldn’t be as invested in Chimney and their relationship as she is. She’d enjoyed their time together, even if it was slow-moving and the thought of it going nowhere, physically hurts. 

If Riley doesn’t like him, it won’t be ‘whatever’ or it won’t be something she can move past because her little girl was her world and if she felt any negativity towards the man she was dating then, that would be it. And if he didn’t like her family, then that would be it, too because Evan and Riley were her world. They were the two people who had seen her through hell and back, even if her little girl would never understand how. She’d fought so hard for her, so that she could have a good, beautiful life, full of joy which is exactly what they had with their little family. Bringing another person into that was a huge deal, the biggest decision she had made since she’d packed hers and her daughter’s things into a bag and left her husband. 

The door knocks and she doesn’t even make an attempt to stop her daughter from running to the door as her brother’s arm drops from her shoulders and she tries to gather the air she needs to breathe. Chimney is a good man and she shouldn’t be as terrified as she is but then she hears her daughter shout “Shark man,” and her heart feels as though it may fly from her chest at any given second whilst her brother just laughs at her. 

“It’s going to be okay,” He whispers, and she wants to believe him, she really does but it’s easier said than done, “go greet your man.” 

It’s with a gulp that she moves away from him, towards the smiling man, who looks just as nervous as she does. “Hi,” She whispers, ignoring the eager five year old as she tugs on Chimney’s hand, pressing a kiss to his cheek, with a shy smile, “I’m glad you came.” This had been arranged for at least a week, it’s not a surprise that he’s there but they hadn’t seen each other in a few days thanks to work. 

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.” Ever the charmer, the one man who’s been able to put a wide smile on her face, forgetting the other two people in the room for just a moment as she nudges her nose against his. At least, until her brother is clearing her throat and her daughter is giggling, pulling back with a pout. She supposes she’s used to having him all to herself, just the two of them and now she has to share him. She snakes an arm around his waist, looking down at her daughter who’s holding up a cuddly bunny dressed as a paramedic that she hadn’t noticed before with the biggest smile on her face. 

“Look what Chimney got me.” That’s a good start, at least, as she wiggles it up in the air and Maddie finds herself pressing a little further into his side when she tilts her head up to look at his flushed cheeks and nervous grin. 

“Don’t worry, I got you something, too.” The teasing edge to his voice makes her giggle, pulling back to let her brother shake his hand, the two of them making small talk whilst Chimney hands her brother his favourite bottle of whiskey and then pulls out some wine for her, with a wink. It wasn’t exactly a well kept secret that she had been nervous for tonight, she’d told him enough times on the phone but he had this magic way of making her feel at ease. 

Her daughter is bossy at the best of times, to say the least, reminding her so much of herself when she was that age, always bossing everyone around. It doesn’t take long for her to grab onto Chimney’s hand to pull him towards the table, “Come on, the food is going to get cold.” She isn’t wrong, so the adults don’t protest, moving with her towards the table, Maddie taking her wine with her whilst her brother eagerly picks up his new whiskey bottle with a satisfied grin on his face. 

She tries not to get too caught up in the nerves when Riley settles herself next to Evan, the two of them sitting across from her and Chimney in the perfect interrogation stance, but still, her shoulders relax the moment his hand rests on her thigh and she rests her hand over his. He hasn’t even taken his first bite of food when Riley pipes up with, “So, do you love my mommy?” And Maddie wonders if it’s at all possible to cancel the entire meal and run out of there as her face turns a bright shade of red and she hides her face in his shoulder with a groan. 

Her brother chuckling doesn’t help but Chimney handles it like a pro, squeezing her leg as he lets out a laugh of his own, “I like your mommy very much, she’s my favourite person.” Her heart feels so full right then as she presses a kiss to his shirt covered shoulder, more than thankful that fate had driven them together when she was ready, when both of them were ready. 

The little girl seems satisfied with that anwer, big brown eyes meeting with Maddie’s across the table as she beams at her, “She’s mine, too!” Her voice is filled with excitement, as though the two of them had just found some amazing common ground and all she can do is smile as she looks between her three favourite people. At least her brother seems to be a little more on board, although he is still eying up Chimney, trying to evaluate him. He’d only been twelve when she had brought Doug home for the first time, and that was the only man he had ever known in her life and she knows the guilt still lingers. He’s a people person though, he picks up on things that maybe she wouldn’t when she’s clouded by her feelings. 

There’s silence for just a moment whilst everyone focuses on dishing up what they want, Maddie taking a gulp of her wine because she knows her daughter very well and she can see the cogs turning in her head as she thinks over what’s going to fall from her lips next. “Do you think my mommy is pretty? She thinks you’re cute, I heard her tell uncle Josh. She said that you have nice eyes and a… sp–” She tilts her head up as she thinks, “sparkly smile! Do you think my mommy has pretty eyes and a sparkly smile?” 

Seriously, how did her child hear every single conversation that happened in this apartment? She needs a bigger place, with stairs, preferably creaky stairs so she can hear the little sneak coming. She’d be embarrassed but it wasn’t as though she hadn’t told Chimney about his sparkling smile to his face. She wonders if he’d got some practice time in with Hen, her wife and their son because he doesn’t seem at all phased as he shoots her a smile, finishing off the food in his mouth before he answers, “I think your mommy is beautiful.” 

“What do you think is beautiful about her?” 

“Riley, baby–”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He shrugs, “Her hair, definitely, she has the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen. And the most gorgeous eyes, they’re the first thing I noticed about her and when she smiles, I can’t help but smile too because it’s the prettiest smile in the world. Except yours, of course.” He’s charming and she watches as her daughter giggles and sits up in her seat before she seems pretty content in the answers he had given which gave them some leeway to enter into small talk. 

She told him about school, they all talked about work, whilst her brother admitted that since graduating college he was feeling a little lost, jumping from one job to the next, couch surfing which meant he was staying at Maddie’s a lot. “Do you like your job?” The question comes when they’re all pushing their plates away, moving to rest her head on Chimney’s shoulder as she holds onto his arm, looking at her brother. He’d been asking little things about the LAFD all night, enough to raise her sister radar that something was going through that brain of his, but he seems genuinely curious right then as he looks at the man sitting across from him. 

“I love my job, I uh, kinda fell into it when I was twenty-five which was… a decade ago and I haven’t looked back since. It’s not always been easy but it’s been worth it, the 118 is a family and I love helping people.” His voice is gentle, an affectionate smile on his lips as it usually is when he talks about work. Just as she feels about nursing, he does about being a paramedic and he truly is wonderful at what he does. It doesn’t take long for the conversation to steer into what his favourite call has been, what was the craziest one, as she sips on her wine and Riley keeps looking between her and Chimney in a way that finally make her let go of his arm, just in case she’s making the little girl uncomfortable. She’s never really experienced Maddie being around a man in any romantic manner - she’d left Riley’s father when the little girl was two and they had never been loving or romantic in any way at all so, this was new territory for the two of them. 

Maybe she was letting the wine get to her head, maybe it was just because of how well he was handling the third degree from the two other Buckley’s or maybe it was just… it had been two months and she was finally starting to let herself believe that this was going somewhere. 

They all congregate over to the couches when dinner is long forgotten and her brother seems to be pondering over everything Chimney had said with a thoughtful look in his eyes that she sets aside to discuss when it’s just the two of them. Maddie finds herself snuggling into Chimney’s side as Riley sits on her Uncle’s lap, eyes fixated on the movie they’d let the little girl pick. Her hand settles on his stomach as he wraps his around her shoulders, her head resting on his chest, basking in the glory of how well it had all gone and how her daughter hadn’t sent the man running just yet. Quite the opposite really, Riley had been on her best behaviour and everyone seemed to like each other, which was… a bonus. 

“I think mommy loves you.” They had been silent for a few moments, Maddie already feeling the slight daze of her tipsiness causing her eyes to close, not wanting the man to leave, already dreading having to say goodbye for the night, when the little voice seems to echo through her brain over and over, embarrassment leaking out as she hides her face a little more in his chest. She was falling in love, a foreign emotion that she hadn’t experienced since she was a teenager and hindsight had spoilt that for her. “You make her happy, I like you. Do you think he’s good enough for mommy, Uncle Bucky?” 

The innocent voice is not fooling a single adult in the room as her brother scoffs and wraps both of his arms around her waist to pull her a little closer to him as he shakes his head. She doesn’t dare look up but she can hear the smile in his voice when he answers, “Definitely good enough for our favourite Buckley. But maybe we should keep those thoughts in our head until Chimney is not in the room.” 

“Hey, I’ll take compliments where I can get them.” She opens her eyes at the sound of his voice, tilting her head to look up at him with the biggest grin on her face, more than grateful that they had met at the station that day… again. His lips press to her forehead and then her nose as she curls herself as much into his side as she possibly can without climbing onto his lap, letting out a content sigh. The nerves were gone, replaced by a flutter of excitement instead at the thought of what’s going to come. 

At least, until, “We googled your name, Uncle Bucky wanted to make sure you weren’t a serial killer or anything.” She’s clearly repeating the man’s words, and Maddie can only imagine the two of them sitting there, trying to dish the dirt on the man she was going to bring home, groaning when she sits up to glare at her brother. “You’re like a superhero!” 

“Only like? Maybe I am a superhero.” Her hand gently pats against his chest as she laughs, shaking her head before she sits up enough to press a kiss to the pink scar on his forehead, a reminder of what could have been. 

“Definitely a superhero.” She whispers, ignoring the two giggles on the other side of the room, knowing she’d have to have words with the two idiots who used Google as their own personal stalker engine. But for now, she could revel in the moment of her two worlds colliding in the best way possible, as her boyfriend took everything in his stride and her daughter and her brother seemed to be enjoying his company just as much as she did. It was perfect, he was perfect.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Part 2 pretty please!!? Next morning, Chimney wakes up in Maddie’s bed. Riley comes bounding in full of energy and sass. “So was getting laid as bad as I thought!?”

It had been a great night, to say the least. Chimney can remember how nervous he had felt for the entire day, hell… for the entire week since it had all been planned out because if there was one thing he had learned about Maddie first, it was that her family meant the world to her. As it should be and he’s sure if he still had Kevin or his mom, maybe he’d feel just as nervous about introducing her to the people he loved the most. 

The nerves were easy to push back because he knew how much it meant to Maddie that he got on with Riley and her brother. And really, after two months of getting to know her, he knew more than anything that she was the first woman who had ever fallen for him as himself. Not the firefighter or the paramedic, not the fake version of himself he made up online to try and impress women, not the person he tried to be but the person he was. 

Maddie was younger than him and absolutely gorgeous, but he knew there was a hidden pain that she wasn’t ready to open about just yet. Something to do with Riley’s dad and the scar on her stomach that the little girl had mentioned, that he’d yet to see. He didn’t mind, something so deep would take time and he was more than willing to give all the time he had to Maddie, to getting to know her and her daughter, and her brother, too. 

Chimney has never been in a relationship that is somehow simultaneously fast moving in regards to feelings, but slow moving in every physical aspect. This is the first time he’s woken up in a bed next to her, an arm wrapped around her as she rests her head on his chest and her hand on his stomach. His throat is dry, he really needs to use the toilet but he’s afraid to move. This is the closest he’s felt to another person without having that intimacy. Still, he can’t resist the urge to press his lips to the top of her head, a smile on his lips as he remembers the night before. 

She’d been a little tipsy, which resulted in a pout when he’d suggested he go home as the movie was coming to an end and if there was one thing in the world he could not resist, it was her pouting at him. Maddie had left for ten minutes to get her daughter into bed, leaving her brother and him alone to wash up, and Chimney makes a mental note to pick up with the younger Buckley sibling about his interest in the LAFD. They were always looking for young recruits and fresh out of college, at twenty-two, Evan would be perfect. 

And then they’d gone to bed, Maddie awkwardly explaining that she wasn’t quite ready for the next step in their relationship just yet but asking if he could hold her whilst they slept. And of course, he’d been more than happy to oblige because… there was nothing he wanted more in that moment. She’s as snuggled into his side as one person can be, a leg wrapped around his, her fingers curled around his t-shirt and he thinks… no, he knows that he can get used to this. He can get used to her, and being happy and feeling… accepted. He’s never really had anything outside of the 118 before, and he loves the people there more than anything but they all have families of their own, people who wait for them to come home at the end of the day, maybe it was his turn. 

He bites down on his lip when he hears a groan and feels her shift a little, before she’s tilting her head to look up at him with sleepy eyes, giving him an embarrassed smile before she presses a soft kiss to his neck, “Good morning.” 

It really was a good morning, he realises, grinning at her, brushing some hair from her face, “Good morning to you, too.” It was one of the best nights sleep he’d had in a long time, although potentially justified by the fact he hadn’t spent hours in bed texting Maddie and instead, the two of them had just whispered to each other… talking about everything and nothing at all until they’d fallen asleep. He could really get used to it, realising, not for the first time, that he truly goes into everything with his whole heart and usually that’s a terrifying feeling but… he doesn’t feel scared when he’s around her. Not anymore. “Did you have a good sleep?” 

Maddie opens her mouth to answer, only to be disturbed by the sound of the door opening and the loud, excitable voice of her daughter fills the room, “Morning mommy, morning Chimney.” If he didn’t have a grip on the woman, he’s entirely certain that with the intensity of which she tried to move away from him, she’d have fallen off the bed, her cheeks a bright shade of red as she moves to sit up. If Riley is at all bothered at the sight of him in her mother’s bed, she doesn’t show it, only moving to clamber up to her mother’s side, settling herself on her lap as she smiles at the two of them. 

“Is your head okay, mommy? Uncle Bucky said you might have a headache.” Chimney moves to sit up too, feeling a little awkward and unsure of himself or what he should do. It’s new territory; dating someone with a kid and as much as Karen and Hen tried to help with their own experience, it wasn’t linear, there were barely any similarities other than the fact there were two people and a child involved. He shifts a little to try and put some space between him and the two others in the bed, only to be stopped by the feeling of Maddie’s hand on his thigh, and the smile on her face. 

“My head is just fine,” She mumbles, pressing her lips to the little girls head, as her thumb gently brushes against his skin and he finds himself immediately relaxing into the touch. She has that effect on him - even if he’s had the most stressful day at work, even just a ten minute conversation with her on the phone can make him feel at peace, even if only temporary, “where is your Uncle?” 

Riley shrugs, “He said he’ll be back soon, he’s gone to pick up breakfast for all of us.” Well, at least that solves that awkward conversation, he supposes, of whether he should leave now. And it shouldn’t be awkward and he knows it’s not him or Maddie or how they feel about each other but he just… doesn’t know the rules or if there are any rules. The nerves that rush through him when Riley finally looks at him, an intense look in her eyes and a tilt of her head, are entirely justified when she talks. “Was getting laid as bad as I thought?” 

It’s a callback to their previous conversation, the one that had him and Maddie laughing on and off for the entire date that night, and had the rest of the 118 howling with laughter the day after when he’d told them the story. The rambunctious five year old who didn’t seem to care what she said or how she said it and Chimney knows her mother, despite her occasional embarrassment, wouldn’t have her any other way. He can’t help but laugh when Maddie dives her face into his shoulder, feeling the heat of her face through his sleeves before he shakes his head. 

It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts, smiling, “No, not bad at all.” He mumbles, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his girlfriend’s head, as her face remains hidden until she’s pulling back with a grin of her own, shifting only to wrap both of her arms around the little girl. She’s a good mom and a good person… a great person and it’s only been two months but already he can’t imagine a future with her in it. And that future most definitely involves the sassy child who he can’t wait to get to know more and hopefully be able to bounce off of a little better when he does get to know her beyond her mother’s proud and slightly mortified ramblings when she tells him about something else Riley has done that day. 

“Will you be sleeping here again?” 

He’s thankful when Maddie takes that one, pulling back enough to move her fingers through messy, long hair, brushing it away from the face that looks so much like her mother’s, “I think I’d like that but only if it’s okay with you.” And there comes the nerves, when brown eyes are staring at him with more seriousness than he’d ever thought it was possible for a five year old to muster. He gulps down the lump in his throat, nervously shooting her a smile before she nods her head. 

“Only if he’s nice to you.” He can remember how protective he had been of his own mom, for good reason; she was Korean, barely spoke any English when they’d moved to LA when he was only Riley’s age. She was stuck in a loveless marriage with a man who had absolutely no interest in having a family beyond just being able to say he had one. Even at that age, all he’d wanted to do was make sure she was happy and that she felt loved, even if only by him. He can see that fire in Riley’s eyes as she looks at her mom, satisfied when Maddie nods her head, eyes too tear filled to actually say a word before she turns back to him. “And nice to me, I really like cookies.” 

Maddie snorts, rolling her eyes, probably knowing damn well that he was making a mental note of that considering she had only mentioned in passing how much Riley liked bunnies and then he’d happened to turn up with a cuddly one for her. “And milkshakes and candy and…” She’s cut off by the sound of her own laughter as her mother tickles her sides, and he can’t help but just admire the moment between the two as she squirms around and it’s all so natural and he’s sure he could watch Maddie being so carefree every day, all day for the rest of his life if he could. 

He watches when she finally scrambles out of the bed, cheeks flush with laughter, her breathing heavy and her hair somehow even messier than it had been when she had walked into the bedroom a few moments before, “Anyways, Uncle Bucky made you coffee and it’s gonna go cold so I’ll go drink it for you, bye.” It’s a slightly evil, more gleeful laugh that falls from her lips as she runs out of the room, and he can’t stop the joy he feels when Maddie almost falls out of the bed after pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek. 

“I wish I could say she was joking but she did try coffee the other day and thought it was nice, although I’m only eighty percent sure she was lying because what five year old likes coffee, right? Riley!” He watches her run out of the room, the grin on his face growing impossibly wider by the second, laughing when he can hear them both arguing in the kitchen about how children can’t have coffee. 

He could definitely get used to this. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Maddie is finishing up a shift at the hospital where she works as a nurse. Buck drops Riley off cause the're gonna to go out for ice cream afterwards with Chimney, who is upstairs having a checkup after his car accident. Maybe they go up to meet him, and on the way out, bump into a very preggo Tatiana (cannon). Riley looks at her bump and says something like “woah, your belly is huge!” Maddie is mortified, but also kinda loves it cause she secretly knows who the woman is from Chim social media.

Maddie rolls her eyes as she looks up at her daughter, “Stop bossing people around, please.” Her brother had dropped her off after school around ten minutes ago and since then, Riley had taken it upon herself to grab a clipboard and instruct the other nurses towards room numbers that didn’t even exist. They’re used to her by now, dubbing her as ‘Mini Maddie’ even if she’ll deny until her very last breath that she would ever boss anybody around quite in the way her daughter does. 

“I’m going to be a nurse one day. The head of all the nurses in the whole hospital.” She looks down at her daughter, big brown eyes staring back at her, before she bends down to nudge their noses together with a grin on her face. 

“Whatever you choose to be, you’re going to be amazing.” 

One of the best things about being a mom is seeing her daughter’s face light up in the way it does right then, seeing that beautiful hope for the future in her eyes. Maddie and Evan had only ever felt as though they were disappointments to their parents and both of them had vowed to make sure that Riley never felt the same to either of them. Her inflated sense of ego was Maddie’s pride and joy; the little girl in front of her honestly believed she could do anything and everything and that was the best feeling as her mother. “I know, mommy, you say that always.” 

Maddie sighs, rolling her eyes again, with a laugh, “And I’ll keep telling you always. Now, clipboard down and say goodbye to Josh because we have to go.” Chimney, the entire reason why Riley was even with her right then, would be coming out of his appointment soon and she hopes they have reason to celebrate. Logically, she knows it’s been looking good every single time he’s had an appointment since his car accident ten months prior but things can change in the blink of an eye and in her twenty eight years of life experience, she knows how quickly things can change. How things that seem so good can go bad in the blink of an eye. 

Still, she feels her daughter’s hand in her own and somehow, it feels as though everything will be okay. There was a time when she had felt as though she had nothing and then Riley was born and for a long time, being a mother was her only purpose in life and then… then she’d packed their things and ran as far away from Hershey and her husband as she possibly could when the little girl was only two, to keep her safe and happy. 

“Is Chimney going to be okay?” As sassy and abrasive as her little girl can be sometimes, moments like this remind Maddie of just how innocent and young she is. She and Chimney have been seeing each other close to three months and the more time that passes, the more time he spends with her daughter and she’d been so proud of how willingly the five year old had opened her heart to the possibility of another person being in the three person bubble they had created for themselves. 

It’s with hesitation that she nods her head, moving towards the elevator, “Of course he will be and if he’s not… he has a lot of people who love him very much and will be there for him. But I think he’ll be just fine, they just have to check these things because…” She bites down on her lip, stepping into the thankfully empty elevator when the doors open, letting her daughter press the appropriate floor button. She doesn’t know how to word it appropriately - Chimney had gone through something that could have changed the entire course of his life, it could have taken away his life. He was a miracle, he had survived something… unimaginable. She’d been an ER nurse on and off since graduating nursing school a few years before and she had never seen anything like it. Riley is looking at her, waiting for an answer, Maddie’s hand resting on top of her head, “He went through something really scary and it’s always best to be safe with the brain.” 

She brushes her fingers down, over the bridge of the little girl’s nose, smiling at her, “But he’s had the all clear every single time since the accident and he’s doing everything he should be. The doctors are amazed with him, he might even get his name in a medical journal.” Any tension that had been on her face is gone, replaced instead with a grin as she holds Maddie’s hand a little tighter. 

“He needs an extra big ice cream, right, mommy? Because he might be scared. I’m not scared though, he’ll be okay. But maybe I should have an extra big ice cream, too, just in case I was a little scared.” Even though she hadn’t known Chimney a long time - well, Maddie supposes a few months in five years seems a lot longer than it does to her - it has been as though both Riley and Evan have picked up on the idea that this man, the first man she had ever dated since her husband… and everything that had happened there, is going to be a huge part of their lives. Three months and Maddie already can’t imagine spending her time with anyone else or feeling the way she does for him for another person. 

She was a little too scared too, gulping down the lump in her throat when the doors open and they walk towards where she’d agreed with Chimney to meet him. “I think we all need the biggest ice cream they have.” She finally says, pulling out her phone to check the time as they stand in the waiting area. He had been so nervous the night before, a little on edge and she’d woken up at three in the morning to him thrashing around a little in his sleep, in the midst of a nightmare. Maddie understood about anxiety induced dreams and trauma reactions better than anyone. It’s been ten months for him but sometimes, he’d admitted to her, that it feels like no time has passed at all. Appointments were bound to bring up those thoughts and fears, as though he was waiting for the catch. 

Her daughter lets go of her hand to go sit down whilst Maddie paces the floor when it’s been ten minutes and her heart hasn’t stopped thumping uncomfortably. He’s fine, she’d pressed her lips over the scar on his forehead that morning and promised him that she’d be there no matter what. His smile had brightened her entire day before it had truly started and it had been three months and she was finally starting to think about doing something other than sleeping next to him. She wanted more, she wanted _everything_. But that was a terrifying thought, one that left her with an uncomfortable tension in her stomach, a burning sensation around the scars she keeps hidden from him. He’s so understanding, even if she’s told him such limited information - she wants to wait, but she’s not sure what she’s waiting for. She wants it to be perfect but then if it’s with him, she knows it’s already perfect. Really, she wants him to be able to touch her without her getting too lost in the past, too caught up in a life once lived with a man who once thought he could… take whatever he wanted from her, no matter what. 

Her own mind is running away from her, going a million miles an hour, she can barely keep up until finally… he’s there and just seeing him allows her entire body to just… _settle_. The whirring thoughts stop, she feels as though she can breathe again, even more so when his lips are against hers and his hand moves towards her lower back. He’s smiling which can mean absolutely nothing because he’d admitted to her that he had lied about not remembering his accident only the night before. “Is everything okay?” She whispers, pressing her hand against his chest, looking into those eyes that have always been so honest, so good at giving him away. 

“Uh, yeah, brain is still in full working condition… well, as much as it can be,” He smirks when she rolls her eyes at him, “doctor is pretty happy with my progress, won’t even have to see me again for a few months. Although, I do think he’s a little in love with me… or maybe just my brain, so you have some competition there.” 

“Oh, really? Hmm, can your doctor do this?” She presses her lips to his with a grin, pulling back only to catch her breath when he wraps both of his arms around her waist and pulls her as close as he can. He tastes like mint and he feels like… home, she doesn’t even know what she’s scared of anymore. 

He shrugs, “I-I mean, he probably could but he might not be wearing strawberry flavoured lip gloss and he’s definitely not as beautiful as you.” 

She’s saved from responding, only by the feeling of her daughter’s arms wrapping around both of their legs as she looks up at the two of them, “Mommy promised that we could get the biggest ice cream ever. Is your brain okay? Will your brain get hurt if you get brain freeze? Mommy says I should eat ice cream a little slower but it’s so good.” She’d miss the feeling of Chimney’s hands on her waist if she wasn’t so busy watching him lift her daughter into his arms with a wide smile on both of their faces as he does. There wasn’t another person she had ever trusted with the most precious thing in the world to her before, other than her brother but Chimney makes that easy. He makes her feel safe which in turn makes Riley feel safe and that was all Maddie had ever wanted and never got from the man who had only ever done one good thing when he was alive and she was looking at her right then. 

They both laugh when he’s pulling a silly face, his eyes crossed, his nose scrunched up, “I don’t know, what’s your name again?” 

“You’re silly, Chimney.” Her arms wrap around his neck and Maddie is reminded just how sweet her little girl can be, pouting when she watches the scene in front of her before her hand falls to Chimney’s lower back and he lets Riley down. She’s content in slipping her hand into Chimney’s, whilst Maddie settles into his other side, fingers clenching around the back of his shirt as they walk towards the elevator, only faltering when she recognises the woman they end up standing next to. 

She’s the first to notice her, biting down on her lip as she tries to focus instead on looking ahead because she can’t explain to Chimney that she had Facebook stalked his ex-girlfriend one night when she was a little tipsy and her brother had encouraged such behaviour. Still, she can’t help but lean a little more into him, snuggling into his side as her other hand moves to rest on his stomach, head settling on his shoulder when he wraps an arm around her, still unaware, too caught up in looking down at her with a goofy grin on his face. 

Tatiana is standing right there and Maddie can feel her heart clenching at the thought of Chimney noticing her. And the universe is crazy, of all the places and all the times and all the scenarios - the woman who had left him so shortly after his car accident because they hadn’t been dating very long and she couldn’t handle the ‘pressure’ was standing right there with a very pregnant stomach whilst Maddie tries to calculate the math in her head. 

“Woah, your belly is huge!” Of course Riley would be the one to talk, to draw attention not only to the pregnancy but to the woman, and Maddie can feel her cheeks flushing a dark shade of red as she drops her hand from Chimney’s stomach and reaches instead to pull Riley towards her and away from the woman whilst her boyfriend remains frozen in place, probably doing a few calculations of his own. 

She knows it’s not possible, he’d admitted to her that whilst he and Tatiana had spent about four weeks pretending after his accident, even though they’d only been seeing each other a few months prior, they hadn’t had sex in that time whilst he was recovering. And she was gone before he fully had. But she can see the thought and the fear crossing his mind for even a second before Tatiana (or current person unknown, she’s quick to remind herself because she had to go pretty far back in his social media) breaks the awkward silence with a laugh, “Yeah, it is pretty big, huh? And to think, I still have five weeks of growing this one left.” 

“Just one?” 

“Riley, shut up.” Her eyes are wide, yanking her to her other side as she shakes her head, “You can’t say that to people.” She whisper-yells, ignoring the slight feeling of satisfaction running through her because no, pregnancy body shaming is not acceptable even at five but it’s the woman who had walked out of Chimney’s apartment a few weeks after he’d been released from the hospital, the hospital in which she hadn’t held his hand in. Maddie wishes she could have been there for him but ten months ago, she was still recovering from her own form of trauma. Big, brown eyes look up at her and her mouth opens and Maddie is sure the usual ‘why not’ is about to fall from her lips but her attention is pulled instead to the two other adults standing next to them. 

“Hi, Chimney… don’t worry,” Her hands move over her stomach and Maddie remembers how she felt being pregnant with Riley, how terrified she had been, how protective she had been of that precious bump that had meant the world to her. And now she had a fifteen year old in a five year old’s body, so that was fun, “it’s my husbands.” Maddie bites down on her bottom lip, edging just that little bit more into Chimney, hoping he’s okay. She hadn’t seen or wanted a future with him months ago, she’d even told him that marriage wasn’t for her, that she’d never be ready for that step. What she had meant was what she wasn’t ready for that step with _him_. The woman has barely paid any attention to her, probably courtesy of her rude daughter and Maddie feels thankful as she looks down and shakes her head at the little girl and the curious look on her face. 

“Ah, so you’re married, too.” There’s a slight edge of justified bitterness, his hand moving from her shoulder to rest on her back, feeling his thumb brushing against the material there whilst he looks at the blonde. 

“I’m glad I ran into you, I’ve been meaning to call but what do you say? Sorry that I was so awful and just broke up with you when the metal pipe in your head was barely…” Maddie thinks that maybe that would have been a good start, an apology would have been nice, some closure would have been great for him but… 

Riley’s eyes narrow, as though somehow the five year old has picked up on the tension between the two adults, moving to stand just in front of Chimney as though she could protect him, “It was a rebar.” 

The look on the woman’s face says it all, awkward and embarrassed before she nods her head, “I-is everything else okay? Like… on the inside?” It takes everything within her not to roll her eyes because if everything wasn’t okay, it wouldn’t be any of her business and she had no right asking. But Chimney is much more polite than she could ever be to the woman who had hurt him and she should have known. 

Chimney smiles, his other hand moving to rest on top of Riley’s head, taking a breath, “Everything is fine, just got another clean bill of health and we’re off to celebrate.” It’s the first time Tatiana has looked at her properly, an awkward smile on her lips, hands still resting on her bump. It’s stupid, and petty, but Maddie wishes she had more time between her shift ending and coming up here to actually do something with her hair beyond the messy side braid she had put it in and the light touch of makeup still remaining from before work. 

“Chimney is a miracle.” There’s nothing in the world, no amount of bribery, or telling off or anything that could stop her daughter from talking, mostly in situations when she probably shouldn’t. But Maddie is grateful for her right then, nodding along with her words before she tilts her head up to grin at the man who doesn’t seem half as uncomfortable as she’d expected him to be. He’d moved on in every way possible but she knows an apology would have been nice to just… hear. To know that the other woman could at least acknowledge that the way she had done things were wrong and unfair to the man who had feelings for her, even if they weren’t reciprocated. 

Tatiana nods, “He is, in more ways than one.” And then her eyes glance between the two adults, “You changed my life… I went to that clinic up north where you spend ten days looking at your life, tearing apart your personality and figuring it all out.” 

“I’m happy for you.” The words are genuine, warm, filled with all the kindness of the man she had really fallen for whilst the other woman nods her head. “Honestly, I didn’t like the way you did things but… it worked out. For the both of us.” He gestures with his head towards her stomach and then looks down at Riley, who stares back up at him and then at her and it feels as though her heart could burst out of her chest just seeing the way he’s looking at her right then. “Uh, this is Maddie and her daughter Riley. This is Tatiana.” He says, as though she didn’t already know and decipher that much. It’s an awkward smile and handshake that follows because whilst Chimney may forgive her, Maddie definitely doesn’t have to but she can pretend for the sake of the little girl who looks up to her so much and the man who needs her by his side right then. 

Tatiana takes a breath, nodding her head, “I’m really happy for you, Chimney.” At least that seems genuine, the elevator doors opening as she steps forward and Maddie moves to pull on Chimney’s arm. 

“We’ll get the next one.” She announces, ignoring the frown on Riley’s face, gone the second the door closes and she realises she gets to press the button again. “Are you okay? If you don’t wanna go for ice cream–” 

“Maddie, she’s… an apology was nice, glad to know my life changing event changed her life,” He scoffs, “but I don’t feel angry or bitter… or sad about that part of my life anymore. I have everything I ever wanted right here and we are definitely getting ice cream, you’re paying, remember?” It’s with a giggle that she dives her head to rest on his shoulder, wrapping both of her arms around him as she nods her head, feeling relief and content as she watches her daughter impatiently press the button a hundred times as though it’ll make any difference as to the speed of the elevator. His arm wraps around her and she closes her eyes for a second, relishing in the comfort and the safety of it all and how perfectly they fit together. There’s nowhere else she’d rather be than with two of her favourite people right then. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Riley AU Ice Cream Part 2. Little cuties go out on an ice cream date.

Chimney had always imagined bumping into Tatiana one day, he’d imagined giving her a piece of his mind, he’d imagined finally being able to say everything she had made him feel when she’d walked out of his apartment door whilst he was sleeping one day. Abandoned, again, as though he had somehow burdened her with his pain. Waking up to nothing but a note that she couldn’t do it had felt… painful. They’d only been seeing each other a few months and deep down, he knew it wasn’t going anywhere, he wasn’t stupid but he’d needed to not feel so alone at a time when he felt his loneliest. 

Maybe that was selfish. Or maybe it was normal in the midst of everything he had been going through. Either way, when it had first happened, and even for a few months after, he’d felt a lot of different things. Mostly anger, hurt, sadness, this never ending belief that his life would simply always be this way.

And then it had finally happened, he’d been face to face with the woman who he’d thought hurt him the most and… everything he had once felt suddenly didn’t matter anymore. Because he was standing next to the one woman who held his heart in her hand, the one woman who was capable of breaking him and the one woman he trusted not to do that. It had only been three months but it was the best three months of his life. From getting to know her, to being allowed into Riley’s life, too and her brother’s as well. He’d never really had much outside of the 118, everyone had their own lives and their own families but he’d always been… alone or floating from one woman to the next, one meaningless relationship going nowhere after the other. He’d always tried to be someone he wasn’t, someone he never could be to try and impress, to try and combat that feeling of loneliness he had felt since his brother had died almost a decade ago. 

Now he had something of his own, something away from the everyday stress of working for the LAFD. He wasn’t angry or upset anymore, he was just… happy. What Tatiana had done to him or the way she had done it was wrong, and it had hurt but everything happens for a reason. And whilst nothing can make up for the pain of feeling so alone after almost dying, it happened because… this is where he was meant to be.

He smiles as he feels Maddie’s head resting on his shoulder, the realisation hitting him for around the hundredth time that he’s never been with someone who always wants to be near him or touching him in some way. Even if they’ve not been intimate yet for reasons he can only let his imagination run wild about, she’s worth the wait. Every relationship he’d ever been in had rushed that side of things and none of them had worked out, so doing things differently had been nice. No pressure. No expectations. 

Chimney’s arm wraps around her shoulders, lips pressing against the top of her head as he lets out a content sigh. Riley is happily digging into the ice cream sundae in front of her, although most of it is on her face but her grin is wide and she’s barely said a word in the last minute apart from random displays of appreciation for her chocolate ice cream after proclaiming that cookies in ice cream were the best invention in the whole world and for her sixth birthday party, all she wants is ice cream sundaes. 

This wasn’t how he’d pictured his life with a beautiful woman practically attached to his side right then as she snuggles into his side, with her little girl sitting across from them. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Did you have a good day at school?” He finally finds himself asking, biting down on his lip, it’s what adults asked kids, right? He’s been around Denny for the last eight years of his life but this is different. Denny was family from the offset but a part of him wants to impress Riley, he supposes. He wants her to like him because he wants to be a part of her life for hopefully the rest of her life and those early memories matter. Maddie pulls away from him, only to lean forward to take a spoonful of the ice cream, having announced she needed a quick break five minutes before, her hand resting on his thigh. 

She enjoys being close to him and he still feels that lingering burning sensation as though his whole body is on fire when she does, replaced by a coldness when she’s gone. The five year old looks at him, pointlessly wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing chocolate a little more over her cheeks and over her hands whilst Maddie laughs at her. “It was fun, I played with my friends and we did writing today. Mrs Connor said my writing is the neatest in the whole class.” She beams at that and he’s about to respond but Maddie is holding a spoonful of ice cream to his lips which he gratefully accepts, thumb brushing against the back of her shoulder as he does. 

Riley only takes the silence as a chance to carry on and if there’s one thing he’s learned, she loves to talk, which is one thing that is unlike her mother. Maddie he’d learnt, could quite happily sit there in silence, idly brushing her thumb against the back of his hand as they watched a movie for hours and he’d never experienced that before. There was no awkward silence, no desire to fill the air with pointless conversation, he could just… be at peace with her. Although, a part of him could tell there was still a massive part of herself and her life that she was holding back from him but it’s easy to push that aside, knowing that everyone has their reasons and patience is key. 

“My friend Mia is really nice, mommy said she can come over to our house for dinner next week when she’s not at work. It’s cool, I didn’t have friends before we got here because me and mommy moved around lots and lots, didn’t we mommy?” That was another thing Maddie didn’t talk about her life; her life before LA. He’d known from the brief discussion they’d had on the bus over a year ago that she had only just moved there but apart from a brief mention of growing up in Hershey, he didn’t know much else. If he was honest, he wasn’t sure what he knew about her past other than the little bits of information she gave him here and there. And thus far, he’d refrained from a Google search, just in case. 

He glances at the woman as she nods her head, “Yeah, we kinda went place to place after leaving Hershey until we could find our home.” 

“Which is here.” Riley confirms, with a quick look at her mother to make sure she’s right, confirmed by the bright smile on the woman’s face as she stirs what’s left of the sundae they had decided to share. “And we’re never leaving, are we mommy? I pinky swore Mia that we would be best friends for the rest of forever.” 

Maddie looks back at him, her cheeks a light shade of pink before she nods her head, “We’re not leaving, we are right where we are meant to be.” It shouldn’t feel as much of a relief as it does to hear those words from her lips but it’s hard to trust good things when they do happen to him because for so long, things have gone so wrong in his life. But to know that Maddie has every intention of staying in LA is enough to settle the nerves that had briefly settled in his chest. 

He nods his own head, remembering how his dad had packed his packs when Chimney was eleven and his mother had refused to go back to Korea with him. They’d been in LA for six years at that point and he’d felt as though it was home, he couldn’t imagine going back and neither could she. He takes a breath, hoping that by opening up a little, maybe it would encourage Maddie to do the same with him, knowing he has a tendency to internalise things, too, for fear of being judged or embarrassed, “I uh… actually, I moved here from a place called Korea when I was your age with my parents because my dad had work here. And when I was eleven, it was time to go back and my mom loved it here so, so much, she said this is where me and her belonged, so we stayed whilst my dad went back to Korea. She just loved everything about this place.” He still sees and feels her in every museum he ever visits because that was her favourite thing to do, or the library closest to where he had grown up because that was how she had learned English. So many memories laced with sadness but mostly happiness for a life he got to share with her, even if only for fifteen years and ten of those in her happy place. 

Riley looks at him with big, sad eyes as though she already knows the answer before she’s asking the question, “Where’s your mommy now?” And he finds himself glancing at her mommy because she’s five and he doesn’t know what her concept of death is or if she should have one at all. He’s thirty-five and it’s been twenty years and he still struggles with it, sometimes. 

“Chimney’s mommy got sick and she died when he was a teenager.” Her hand moves to his beneath the table, brushing her thumb against the back of his knuckles and he watches Riley’s face carefully as she processes the information. He remembers being six and his mom explaining to him that his grandmother had gone to heaven but she’d never used the word ‘died’ or ‘death’ and he can barely remember having any sort of grasp on the situation at all but there’s some sort of understanding there. He supposes it’s normal, really, Maddie is a nurse and she may have explained it to the little girl previously in a way to better understand. 

And then she looks at him with the most serious look on her face, “I’m sorry about your mommy, Chimney. She must have been a nice person because you are.” He smiles, watching as Maddie reaches over the table to take the little girl’s hand in her other, giving it a gentle squeeze as she does and he wonders how someone so young and innocent can be so wise at the same time, completely crediting the woman sitting next to him right then. “Mommy and Uncle Bucky had a brother who died a long, long time ago. Mommy says he still lives in all of us though.” 

He didn’t know that, biting down on his lip as he looks at Maddie before she nods her head, “That’s right. Uh, his name was Daniel,” She’s looking at him, her hand out of Riley’s who’s gone back to eating her ice cream and he wonders if Daniel is the reason she understands the concept of death at her age, “he died when I was eight and Buck was two, he was a year older than me. Our parents never really… dealt with it, I suppose, so that’s why Buck and I are so close and we don’t really talk to them. They kind of disowned me when I got married and then disowned Buck when he moved to LA instead of back home after college.” She shrugs as though it’s no big deal, although he can see the sadness pooling in her eyes before he moves to wrap his arm around her. 

“I’m really sorry,” He settles on whispering, gulping down the lump in his throat, “but thank you for telling me.” _Thank you for trusting me_ , he finishes in his head, sensing how hard that is for her to do for reasons still unknown but reasons he can guess from his own experience as a first responder. 

Maddie smiles as she tilts her head up to look at him, head resting on his shoulder once more and he’s sure he can get lost in those eyes all day if she’d let him. “I trust you.” She confirms, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders, “Hey, Riley, go grab some napkins, baby from the counter over there,” She points and the little girl is all too eager to get up and do something on her own as Maddie pulls back. He can see her watching her daughter out of the corner of her eye whilst also trying to focus on him, biting down on her lip, “I-I trust you, which is why I was wondering if you maybe… um, this weekend, you’re not on shift on Saturday night and neither am I and my brother said he’d babysit Riley for me and uh, you know, if you wanted…” 

She trails off, and it takes him a moment to realise why she’d be so nervous because they’ve hung out plenty of times on a Saturday night before, but the realisation starts to settle as she takes a breath, before she continues, “Maybe I could stay at your place? If that’s okay with you? Just… the two of us?” 

“Are you… sure?” The way his heart is thumping and his stomach flips, he knows he’s more than ready to take the next step with her, as long as she is. Although, this is the last place he’d expected their conversation to go, so it must have been playing on her mind, waiting for an opportunity to talk to him alone. 

She nods, “I’m ready, if you are, I don’t want to assume that you–” He does what he always does when she starts to awkwardly ramble, recognising the flush of her cheeks and the slight panicked way her eyes dart from his face and then back towards where he can hear Riley talking to the waitress about how good ice cream was - he presses his lips against hers and feels the way she immediately relaxes and smiles into it. 

“Got the napkins, mommy.” They pull back at the sound of her voice, Maddie taking them from an outstretched, sticky hand before she slides herself out of his grip and across to the other side of the booth to try and at least make some sort of dent in the chocolate mess Riley had made of her face. It was impressive, really, how she’d managed to ice cream in her hair, on her forehead, her nose, all over her hands. He wonders if she’d managed to eat any at all and then he remembers Saturday night, realising it’s only tomorrow before he takes a breath. 

He was ready for everything with Maddie, although he’d never voice that aloud for fear of driving her away. She had a daughter to think about and something she was hiding from him that he’s entirely certain would never push him away. It’s with affection that he watches Maddie gently rubbing the napkin against Riley’s nose before she nudges her own against hers and they’re smiling at each other. And he feels lucky to have even been allowed an insight into this little family in the first place, sensing that the two of them had been through so much that Riley probably didn’t understand but maybe he could, one day. When Maddie would let him in completely. 

“You ready to head to this movie?” He finally asks, eager as he throws some cash down on the table, ignoring the protests that fall from Maddie’s lips as he stands up, his heart swelling with the amount of trust Riley has already put into him when she jumps off the seat and immediately takes his hand in her own with an innocent grin on her face, stubborn stickiness of the chocolate ice cream remaining on her face and in her hair. 

Maddie is beaming at him from his other side as she climbs out of the booth, too, murmuring something about paying for the movie tickets which he knows he’ll absolutely win that argument when they get there. And he realises, he feels at home with the two of them and that was all he had ever wanted and no amount of bumping into Tatiana or secret keeping could change that. At least… he hopes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is NSFW. Please skip ahead if you are under the age of 18/not comfortable with reading smut.

Maddie is nervous, more so than she ever thought possible. Her heart feels as though it could burst out of her chest, there’s a lump in her throat that just won’t shift and her cheeks are so flush they feel as though they’re on fire. It’s Chimney, she has to remind herself of that more than once - his lips are soft, his kisses are gentle, his touches hesitant and she can feel the slight trembling of his body against hers as though he’s nervous too. She supposes this is three months in the making, there’s been a lot of build up to this moment and expectations are laced within it. 

She pulls back a little, carefully bushing both of her hands against either side of his face, just taking a moment to breath him in, to keep herself in the present. She had showed up at his place with every intention of just taking it slow but it had been playing on her mind from the moment she had said those words out loud and she wanted to stop thinking. She’d kissed him the second she had stepped into his apartment, their lips barely separating as they’d stumbled their way to the bedroom which was where she finds herself now, her fingers slowly tracing every outline of his face as though she’s memorising him. 

Fingers brush over his nose, down to his jaw, just able to see the scar in the middle of his forehead from the light shining through the slightly ajar bedroom door. She thinks of her own scars, wondering if he’d question them, if he’d be as repulsed by them as she was. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for, it’s okay to change your mind.” He has no tangible notion of her past, and yet somehow, he knows exactly what to say that gives her the confidence she needs to drop her hands from his face, down to his shoulders. He is different in every single way possible to her ex-husband and not just in personality but the way she can fit so perfectly against his body. How he doesn’t tower over her or how he’s toned, muscular but gentle with his touch. There’s not an ounce of similarity between the two, her hands dropping to his chest to feel his heart beating against the palm of her hand. 

“I want to,” She realises she’s been silent too long when he starts to pull back, stopping him in his tracks, “I’m just nervous. I-I don’t… “ The words of her therapist echo in her mind about being honest and being open with this man if she wants a future with him but surely now isn’t that moment. She doesn’t want to mar this moment with talk of the past when she was trying to focus on her future, even if she knows that discussion will have to come one day. “I uh, I have limited experience,” is what she decides to stay, instead of the thoughts whirring through her head, “and that experience wasn’t always… great.” 

Chimney nods his head as though he understands, although she can see the confusion in his eyes. His thumb brushes against her side, his hand having slipped up her top as they had been kissing and somehow, in the midst of it all, she’s still fully clothed and he’s down to his boxers. She has to trust herself, she has to know that the feeling in the pit of her stomach beyond the nerves is desire, too. Desire to feel close to him, to take this step with him… to find enjoyment in herself and her sexuality… _with_ him.

He pulls back a little when she doesn’t offer any more information, chewing down on his lip and she misses the warmth of his body against her own almost immediately. Still, she seizes the opportunity to sit up enough to be able to pull her dress over her head with relative ease. Their eyes meet, her breath hitching when his hand immediately moves to press over the scar on her stomach, only mentioned in passing by her daughter over three months ago in the middle of the station. The scar tissue is raised ever so slightly, a long, angry, white scar just above her belly button and she wonders, for a moment, if he’s going to pull away entirely. She wouldn’t blame him, there’s times when she can’t even stand to look at her own reflection when she’s not covered by clothing. 

Instead, Chimney takes a deep breath, thumb brushing along the edges of her scar in a way that makes her shudder, moving to lie back down, grateful when he sees it as an invite to hover over her, “I’m sorry.” He finally whispers, although he has no idea what he’s apologising for, she supposes he can guess. It doesn’t take a genius to remember what her daughter had said and then to make assumptions based on what she had said herself, in passing, here and there and the way she acted, at times. No one has ever touched her there before other than doctors and nurses and occasionally she lets her own fingers graze along it to remind herself that she had lived when she had once thought that was impossible. 

“You’re beautiful.” This time, he’s not whispering, the words are said with so much confidence and conviction that she almost believes them, smiling up at him as her fingers move to his hair. “You take my breath away every single time I even think about you.” She thinks he might be crazy but her heart feels full at the words because even if she can’t quite believe them, she knows he does. He moves to take one of her hands in his own, moving it to his shoulder instead, a serious look on his face, “Squeeze my shoulder if you need a moment or you wanna stop or you’re not enjoying yourself, okay?” 

How did she get so lucky? She’s sure that there are people like him in this world who understand, who are patient and kind and gentle but she’d found him. They’d found each other in the midst of so much darkness. She could have chosen to not go to the station that day - they had been running late anyway and she had almost bribed her daughter to just go get something to eat instead. And then everything would have changed and Maddie doesn’t want to imagine, for even a second, her life without the bright eyed, handsome, sweet paramedic. 

It’s only when she nods her head in confirmation, her thumb brushing against the back of his neck that he presses his lips to hers. It doesn’t last long enough before he’s trailing kisses down her neck, her shoulder, down to her bra clad breasts until they’re both awkwardly fumbling around in an attempt to take off the lace material whilst not pulling apart too much. The laugh that falls from her lips the moment it’s gone feels like freedom, a grin on her face when his chest is against hers and it’s not a life once lived that she’s thinking about but _him_. About Chimney and the way he makes her body feel as though it’s on fire and her heart feel as though it’ll soar from her chest. She’d described it as an outer body experience more than once in therapy, as though she couldn’t quite believe he was hers or that she was his. 

His lips graze along the scar, as hers so often has against the one on his forehead and for a minute, it feels as though she can’t breathe. She’d never thought, for even a second, that he could find _every_ part of her beautiful but the touch of his lips against her skin is so tender, more so than she could have ever allowed herself to imagine. When his fingers hook over her panties, pulling them slowly down her legs as his body weight is gone from hers, she realises within a matter of five minutes she’s gone from being the most dressed to the least, a pout on her lips when she watches him throw them haphazardly across the room. She misses him, even though he’s only kneeling between her legs, just an arm reach away but being close to him is one of her favourite things. She could never relish in that feeling of safety with the man she had married, she had always felt on edge, even from the beginning because his temperament could change in a matter of seconds. Now, she takes every opportunity she can to feel Chimney’s body against her own. 

The first time is always awkward, her little brother had provided her with that little nugget of information when she’d confessed to him the night before. He was her best friend, the one person in LA who knew everything and anything and she’d needed him to look her in the eyes and tell her that it was time to move on. Still, watching Chimney awkwardly reach to grab a condom from his drawer makes her bite down on her lip in mild amusement, just watching him, the realisation hitting her (and not for the first time and definitely not the last) that she truly loves everything about him. The slight smirk forming on her lips is quickly dropped the moment his boxers are discarded, it feels as though it’s been too long since his body was pressed against hers, sitting up to move her lips to his whilst she takes the open packet from his trembling hands. She doesn’t want to rush but there’s an overwhelming desire to feel him on top of her, _inside_ of her in a way she’d never expected. 

She doesn’t feel nervous anymore, not in the overwhelming sense, anyway as she breaks the kiss to glance down, gulping when she takes all of him in for the first time. What if they didn’t like the same things? She knows what she _doesn’t_ like but had never quite had the opportunity to explore what she enjoyed, what turned her on but she knows she wants that chance with him. It’s with a breath that she slips the condom on him, spurred on by the gasp that falls from his own lips the moment she touches him. It’s nice to have that power over him, it’s even nicer to see just how attracted he is to her. An ego boost that she didn’t know she so desperately needed. 

“Fuck, Maddie…” The desperate tone to his voice is enough to force her to wrap both of her arms around his shoulders, pulling him with her as she moves until her back hits the mattress and his body so perfectly moulds against her own whilst her legs wrap around his waist. Their lips don’t part until he’s pushing into her, the two of them gasping for air the moment he does and Maddie doesn’t think she’s ever felt so overloaded by so much wanting or needing for another person. His hand moves to hers, pulling it to rest on the pillow next to her head as his fingers curl around her own and her other hand remains on his shoulder. 

Every thrust of his hips is slow, matching the pace of his lips against her own, their noses bumping with each time they pull back to catch their breaths. There’s a tension building in her stomach that she hasn’t felt with another person in such a long time but she needs more. Each movement is filled with such purpose, hitting that perfect spot every single time, her hand squeezing against his, “Y-you um… you can go… faster.” _If you_ _want_ , she finishes in her own head, looking into his eyes as she tries to decipher what he wants right then because she’s never had a voice in the bedroom before

Chimney doesn’t say anything but the pace quickens, and her heels dig into his lower back in a way that seems to spur him on whilst her hand drops from his shoulder, knowing she never wants him to stop. Fingers curl through his hair instead whilst his other hand clumsily moves between them to take her nipple between his fingers and she’s not sure she’s ever felt a yearning more intense than she does right then when she quickly moves to press her lips against his neck, grazing her teeth along the skin, enjoying the way he shudders before he lets out a moan of her name and she’s not sure she’s heard anything better. 

This isn’t what sex used to feel like, not for her but the tension in her stomach is building more so by the second and she wants more but she doesn’t know what she wants more of other than just Chimney. Just his hot breath against her ear, his hand in her own as his other grips at the pillow next to her head, buried deep inside of her as he tilts his head to capture her lips in his own and her own moan is captured in the movement so easily. She thinks she loves him or that she could love him one day. 

It’s when his hand moves down between them as he pulls back just enough, to rub circles that somehow so perfectly match the pace of their hips against her clit that she knows it’s not going to last much longer. “Howie,” She breathes out, having never actually used his actual name since he’d told her that he preferred his nickname, but the sound of her voice causes him to groan and dive his head down into her neck, whilst she pulls her hand from his to wrap her arms around him, digging her nails into his shoulders. She almost feels sad that they had waited so long, that she could have felt this immense connection with him so much sooner, but she wonders if the wait is what makes it that much more fervent than she ever could have imagined.

Maddie can’t remember the last time she had ever had an orgasm if it wasn’t at her own hands but she feels that jolt of electricity shooting through her body and her back arches and for just a moment, his movements falter when he pulls back to watch, following barely a second later when her name can be heard reverberating off the walls of his bedroom and she wants to hear him moan like that a hundred times over. She feels more alive right then than she has in such a long time, her head spinning, her body aching with every heavy breath she takes whilst his movements slow until he’s gone and she misses him. She always does when he’s gone, no matter how close he actually is. 

It’s with a blush that she watches him standing, not trusting herself to move just yet with how her legs are shaking, pulling the covers up over herself instead, relaxing only when he turns back to her with a slightly dazed but sparkling grin on his face. Her hand reaches for his, smiling brightly when he quickly takes it before he leans down to tenderly press his lips to her own, a content sigh captured by his mouth whilst her hand rests on his cheek. Relief, excitement for the future and… adoration for this man who had been thrust upon her by fate is all she feels in this moment, giggling as she pulls on his hand until he’s back in the bed with her and she knows, more than anything, that she’ll never get enough of him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Riley AU. Buck tells Riley that Maddie is sick whilst she’s recovering after a panic attack and minor injury, so the little girl phones Chimney who rushes over with soup and snuggles.

It had been a few since they had spent the night together, for the first time and Chimney is entirely certain he hadn’t stopped smiling. At least until he got the phone call from Riley that Maddie wasn’t feeling too good. They were meant to be hanging out that night, the three of them and he was truly starting to feel on the inside of this beautiful, little family. 

Maybe it was the reason he went rushing over straight after work, stopping off at Maddie’s favourite little bistro to get the soup she loves so much and then the store to get everything a person would need to feel comfort when they were feeling under the weather. Riley sounded… different on the phone. Her voice small and quiet, clearly worried for her mother in a way that reminded him so much of himself when he was just a child, scared for his mother every time she so much as coughed a little too loud. 

Maddie would be fine, he was more than aware of that, probably just resting which would explain why she hadn’t called to cancel. He throws a piece of chewing gum in his mouth before he knocks the door, not sure why he feels so nervous - maybe because he wasn’t invited by Maddie but more so her daughter who had whispered down into the phone that maybe her mommy would feel a little better if Chimney was around. He couldn’t ignore the way his heart had skipped a beat just hearing those words coming from the little girl who loved Maddie more than anyone and who Maddie loved more than anyone. He’s never felt… wanted and needed by anyone he’s ever dated before. 

It’s usually Riley that answers, something that makes him a little uncomfortable because she’s five and no one knows what dangers lie on the other side of the door. Especially because she’s five and can’t see who’s knocking the door until it’s too late. So, he’s already looking down, expecting to be met with that cheeky grin and big, brown eyes before the door even opens, only to quickly look up when he realises it’s Buck he’s looking at. “Uh, what are you doing here?” 

He probably shouldn’t be offended by the tone of voice, seeing a look on the other man’s face he hasn’t seen before - one of concern and protectiveness, whilst he maintains a tight grip on the door as though he isn’t about to let him in. “Riley called me… we were meant to go out for dinner tonight, the three of us but… she said Maddie was sick?” 

It’s with a sigh that the youngest sibling looks behind him, finally opening the door a little more, revealing Riley sitting on the couch with her iPad in front of her and her headphones on. When he takes a step back, he takes it as an opportunity to move inside, confused by the awkwardness of the situation. Did Buck know something he didn’t? Was Maddie just pretending to be sick to get out of being with him tonight? He knows his head shouldn’t go there because the other night had been amazing and they had barely stopped talking since. He hadn’t heard from her since this afternoon but… she was sick. 

“Maddie isn’t sick.” Or not. Chimney bites down on his bottom lip, slowly setting the bags on the counter as he stares at Buck, hoping he’d offer a little more information without much probing. “She uh… “ Blue eyes look everywhere except at him, grabbing a bottle of beer from the side before he takes a sip with a shake of his head, as though he’s trying to gather his own thoughts. There’s a sense of dread that washes over him, as though Maddie hadn’t wanted him here after all. “I don’t know what my sister has or hasn’t told you, I’m guessing not a lot because… she doesn’t talk about it, not even with me but uh, she had group therapy today and she was acting weird after that. And then she wasn’t paying attention when she was pouring some tea and burnt her arm and…” He watches as Buck glances over at Riley, who still hasn’t noticed he’s there, bobbing along to something she’s watching. “She had a panic attack and now she’s sleeping but I couldn’t tell Riley that, so I kinda just said Maddie is sick, I-I didn’t know you two had plans and I didn’t know Riley rang you.” 

He’s not stupid, he’d seen the signs before - they’d been out once when a man had grabbed her arm and he’d seen the way her breathing had quickened and the fear behind her eyes. The words cause an ache in his chest and that undeniable tension to build in his stomach when he thinks of what Maddie could be hiding from him. He was good at letting his imagination run wild but he doesn’t think he’s too far off with what he thinks of Maddie’s life before LA, or what happened with the man she had married when she was still in college. All he can do is take a deep breath, nodding his head as he takes one of the bags, “I’ll just go check on her.”

Even if she doesn’t want him, some of the stuff he bought would be useful, he supposes, “Uh, you can eat the soup if you’d like - it’s just chicken noodle and there’s ice cream you should probably put away. I-I didn’t know… if she had a sore throat or whatever.”

“Her favourite.” Buck says, with a smile and a nod of his head, digging through the rest of the bag to pull out all the lozenges and other things he had bought because Riley had only said she was sick and not expanded upon that, so he’d bought everything. “Listen, Chimney… she’ll open up about it one day, I think she just… doesn’t want to be defined by it, you know? I know she really likes and trusts you but she’s scared that you’ll… I don’t know, think she’s too damaged or something. And I know you’re not that guy and I know she knows that too but I think it’s… I think it’s more complicated than that? I know that she’s only told me what she thinks I need to know.” 

“You’re a really good brother, Buck.” It’s all he can bring himself to say, knowing that trauma is… complex and terrifying. It had taken him nearly ten months to even admit out loud that he was lying about not remembering his car accident.

It’s only with a shrug of his shoulders that the other man pulls out some herbal tea and oranges, “And you’re a really good boyfriend. My sister is lucky to have you and I’m glad Riley phoned you even if we need words about stealing her mother’s phone.” Both of them laugh at that, knowing that boundaries weren’t really a thing in the five year olds mind.

“There’s some candy in there for the little rascal, I didn’t know you here, sorry.” He takes a deep breath, moving towards her bedroom, feeling nervous and wary of rejection. Maybe him being there is the last thing she wants, maybe his presence isn’t necessarily needed in the aftermath of a panic attack. But they were dating and if she wants him to leave, he knows he will readily do so without a fight. 

He knocks first, slowly opening the door before he slips inside, the room is lit only by the dim bulb of the lamp next to her bed and he moves carefully to the side she’s facing, smiling when he sees her eyes are open. It quickly turns into a frown at the site of the blistering burn on her arm, covered by some cling film. “Hey, Buck told me what happened,” He keeps his voice gentle as he carefully kneels down next to the bed, brushing his fingers gently over her cheekbone, “is it okay that I’m here?” 

“You’re welcome here always,” She mumbles, although it does nothing to hide the surprise on her face that he’s even here in the first place, “I’m sorry I forgot to cancel, you don’t have to hang out with me like this. I’m sure there’s better things to do on your night off.” 

Chimney’s nose scrunches up, frowning, “There is nowhere else I would rather be as long as you’re comfortable having me here and you don’t have to talk, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to but I’ll listen if you do want to.” Her smile lacks all the spark it usually does, mostly tired, not reaching her eyes in a way that causes a lump to build in his throat. 

“I don’t think I can… not yet and I’m sorry, I wish I could–”

“No, you don’t have to, not until you want to but whatever it is, Maddie, it won’t change how I feel about you.” She nods but doesn’t say another word, so he pulls back a little to open up the bag he’d brought with him, “Okay, in my defence, Riley called me and told me you were sick but I think you can have the full Chimney care package because I lo–because I like you a lot, too much.” Her eyes light up at that and he watches as she shifts enough in the bed so he can sit next to her before she sits up. 

There’s no one else he would do this for, it would have felt too cheesy with Tatiana but he can tell by the look on Maddie’s face that she’s excited for whatever it is he went shopping for. It’s with his brightest smile that he pulls out a cuddly panda, laughing when she practically snatches it from him with a pout and then a kiss against his cheek whilst she holds the cuddly toy close to her chest with both arms wrapped around it. “His name is Mango.” He tells her, feeling an overwhelming relief when her head moves to rest on his shoulder and she’s snuggled up into his side as close as she possibly can without being on his lap. “A new mug for all the hot tea you could possibly drink.” He pulls out a matching panda mug, remembering how she had said they were her most favourite animal in the world back when they had first started dating. Next comes the fluffy panda socks as she giggles and takes them from him too. 

“I’m sensing a theme here.” 

“Ah, your senses are correct.” He grins as he pulls out a black and white bath bomb, her arms moving to wrap tightly around his waist whilst he pulls out the last of the items in the bag; some panda themed pyjamas, easily discarded when she shifts her body to rest on his lap. His arm wraps around her whilst her head rests in the crook of his neck and her fingers curl around the fabric of his top over his fast beating heart.

“Thank you. You must like me a lot, huh?” She whispers, not lifting her head up to look at him whilst he feels her breath against his skin in the way that makes him shudder. He wonders if he says what he wants to say, if it’ll push her away or scare her off. It’s been just over three months, they’ve slept together once… well, twice if he counted the morning after and there was so much to consider. Her past, there were things he hadn’t told her, there was Riley, the fact that they were still getting to know each other. 

The breath he releases trembles, his heart thumping uncomfortably against his chest, “I-I uh, I more than like you but I don’t know if that’s too soon? I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for so I can wait, I can… I mean, for you, I’d wait forever and I’m sorry if this is too much too soon, because I know that…” 

She pulls back a little and it cuts him off, biting down on his lip in an attempt to stop himself from rambling on, “I used to say those three words a lot, even when I didn’t mean them. They were… a defence mechanism, an automatic response to an immediate threat… “ His imagination is running wild but those words solidifies the idea he already had in his mind about exactly what happened before he’d ever met her and it causes an undeniable pain to rush through him at the thought of anyone laying a finger on her. “But I do feel that way for you which is crazy because I didn’t think I would feel that way for another person again so uh, if you wanted to say it… and you’re okay that I can’t say it in those exact words yet… then uh, you can… if you wanted. But you don’t have to.” 

Chimney’s eyes linger on the burn on her arm, slowly nodding his head in response before he smiles, knowing there’s no point in coating around it because life is short and at thirty-five, he’s never felt this kind of love for another person. Time doesn’t really matter when it’s the right person, he supposes. “Well then… I do love you, Maddie Buckley. Even if that’s crazy, even if it seems too soon but I do feel that way for you and about you and I’m glad we’re on the same page.” 

“Thank you for coming.” 

His arms tighten around her, wishing he could take away everything she had been through, even if he didn’t completely understand it beyond the hints. “There is nowhere else I would rather be.


End file.
